The present invention relates to an annular shaft flange that can be positioned on a shaft and fixed in place. The flange functions as a stop to locate a shaft at a particular distance or to retain an object in a desired position along the shaft.
Previous devices, such as snap rings, cotter pins or flip pins require the shaft to be machined or drilled, thereby weakening the shaft and adding additional cost to the manufacturing process. A locking ring requires no machining, but has a greater cost penalty and can only be placed on the shaft if the diameter of the shaft is constant or has an area of reduced diameter.
Presently, annular shaft flanges, such as shown in Nell U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,800, owned by the assignee of the present application, have been successful in providing a method of securing an object along a shaft and preventing the object from moving along the length of the shaft. However, the shaft flange taught by the Nell '800 patent preferably uses a spot weld to secure the two ends of the shaft flange in place. Although spot welding has proven to be an effective method of retaining the two ends of the shaft flange, a need has arisen to provide alternate methods of securing the two ends of the shaft flange to eliminate the need for a spot weld. The apparatus and method of the present invention address this need in a novel manner.